It's my Fault
by nacho-chan
Summary: Natalia just isn't the same anymore. Harley doesn't know what's going on, but he'll find out, even if he's got to go into a unicorn infested room. He'll find out, even if he has to do that "comfort" thing.   One-shot with spoilers for The Brimstone Key


_(Spoiler Alert to those that have not read The Brimstone Key)_

_Natalia screamed._

_Stumbling to his feet, Max could see Harley leaning out the window, holding desperately to Natalia's hand. She had fallen through and her feet were dangling a thousand feet above the ice._

"_Don't let go of me!" she screamed._

_Harley's arm was bleeding, cut by broken glass that was lodged in the window frame. "I think my shoulder is dislocated," he said, wincing._

"_Max, get your arms around Harley's knees to steady him!" Logan ordered._

"_Eight hundred feet and falling," Monti shouted. "Firing retro rockets! Dropping ballast!"_

"_Harley, I'm going to pick you up like a lineman hitting a sled," the Scotsman explained as he slid Between Harley and the window. "All you need to do is hold onto her."_

_Harley managed a weak nod, and Logan exploded. Harley's vision went grey as he flew backward, his hand fastened to Natalia's wrist like a vise._

* * *

Harley's arm was still in a sling. It felt fine, just like normal, but apparently it still wasn't healed. He wore the blue fabric wrap all the time; while fixing go-carts, in Monti's work shop, and in the Griffins' Aerie, their secret headquarters. It was fine, though, and he felt better every day.

Harley noticed, though, that every time he saw her, Natalia was sadder, guiltier. The first time, she just wasn't as talkative, and she blamed it on lack of sleep. The second time, she barely talked at all, and mostly smiled. After that she was always out of it, and she would be sitting in the corner, staring out a window even though the boys were playing Round Table. But she would still talk a little to Max, and give a small, tired smile to Ernie's jokes and attempts to cheer her up. But not him, and that's when he realized it.

Natalia was avoiding him. She wouldn't talk to him, she wouldn't look him in the eye, she wouldn't even face his direction. One time he stared at her until she looked at him, and after she quickly spun around, he thought she would burst into tears. Harley frowned. That wasn't Natalia.

The next time they got together, she didn't come.

"I'm getting worried about Natalia," Max confessed as they decided to just wait a little longer, just in case. The three boys were leaning against their bikes.

"Yeah, she's been a real rain cloud lately," Ernie said, taking a gulp from his Plumple. "Maybe she got bullied again."

"Of course not," Harley scoffed. "We've been watching after her, right?"

Neither answered his question.

Harley's eyes widened. "Haven't you guys been watching her?"

"Well, I mean, there's been so much going on, I've been with Brooke most of the time, but… hey, it's a new school, right? Maybe that's not it," Max said.

"I'm too supersonic to be watching over her. I've got a superhero team in the making," Ernie boasted.

"So none of us know what's been happening to her?" Harley asked, since he himself barely sees her throughout the school day. The two looked guilty.

"We can't change our schedules," Max defended.

"But what about after school, when I'm in Monti's workshop?" Harley inquired.

"I have an extra Changeling class," Ernie said.

"I've been hanging out with Brooke," Max admitted sheepishly.

Harley sighed. "We should probably go figure out what's wrong, then," he said, releasing the kickstand of his bike. He turned when the other two didn't do the same.

"I actually have a lesson with Logan," Max explained, jumping on his back and riding the other way, towards his house. "Sorry!" he called over his shoulder.

Harley looked at Ernie. "Don't look at me!" Agent Thunderbolt exclaimed. "I've got to be home for dinner. Grandpa's coming over again."

Soon, Harley was alone. He jumped on his bike and headed towards town, riding along the streets as people exited diners and restaurants from dinner. He kept riding until he got to Natalia's house. It was a medium sized house with faded, light blue siding and white trim. The flower beds were neat and colorful, lining the sidewalk as Harley walked up it. A chime sounded as he rang the door bell.

"Oh! It's Harley," Natalia's mother said as she opened the door. She was a kind women with the same red hair that she had given to Natalia, her face adorned with sparkling blue eyes and a kind smile. She seemed like she was about to let him in, when Natalia's father showed up.

He was a man that could glare a tiger away, with dark grey hair and brown eyes. Harley knew that the man was kind like his wife, but only when he wanted to be, such as around his daughter. _Not_ around a boy that was at his house to see his beloved daughter.

"Don't let him in!" Natalia's father said, glaring at the boy on the doorstep. It was then that Harley realized how bad he must look. He was out of breath from the ride over and his hair was messed up from the wind. Grease and oil stained his ripped up jeans and old shirt. He had shown up later in the evening, and wanted to see Natalia, but he began to doubt that the man before him even trusted him when he stood outside on the sidewalk.

"Why not, honey?" Natalia's mother asked. "He just wants to see Nat."

"But does she want to see _him_?" Mr. Romanov countered. His wife frowned before excusing herself and heading up the stairs. She came back a moment later with the frown still on her face.

"I'm sorry, Harley, but she seems to want to be left alone right now," Mrs. Romanov apologized.

"It's okay," Harley assured, and Mr. Romanov proceeded to close the door in his face.

Harley pretended to leave, not oblivious to the eyes of Natalia's dad watching him. He walked down the driveway, across the street, and out of sight. Then, he doubled back and hopped the fence, landing in Natalia's backyard. He remembered her telling them all about an oak tree near her window that she used to sneak out one time, and he spotted his new route that would lead him up to the unicorn-covered window.

The climb was easy, but then it was staying out of the light of the window so he wouldn't be spotted that was tricky. He risked peeking up over the window sill, and was surprised to see that she wasn't there. The window was slightly ajar, and Harley pushed it open before climbing into the room. It was painted purple, and unicorns were _everywhere_.

Harley felt strange standing in her room, when suddenly he spotted two notebooks on Natalia's desk. One was the _Book of Clues_, of course, but the other was one Harley had never seen before. It was titled _Natalia Romanov_, and Harley almost dropped the book after he opened it.

Inside were pages of her faults. The time she got caught in the fairie circle, the unicorn mishap, and when she trusted Athena. Page after page of mistakes from missing a math problem, to one particular one that stood out to Harley. It was one that was written in almost every daily entry.

_I burdened Harley_ or sometimes it said _I hurt Harley_. Most specifically, the day his shoulder got dislocated from when she had fallen out of the airship and he had saved her. So many times she seemed to beat herself up over not being able to do anything, and one time she even stated about how she was worth nothing more to the Grey Griffins than the _Book of Clues_ in her back pocket. At that, Harley frowned. He was going to have to talk to her.

But not right now, when he was standing in the middle of her room, reading her secrets, when she didn't want to even see him. So, naturally, Harley panicked when he heard Natalia coming towards her room, and did the one thing he could think of. He hid under the large, unicorn printed bean bag in the corner.

When Natalia walked in, Harley fought his natural instinct so that he wouldn't jump up and help her. Her eyes were red as though she had been crying, and she seemed so tired that Harley was surprised she could even walk. He watched as she walked in and shivered before closing the window, and when she started towards him, he pulled his head back so he wouldn't get caught.

Natalia was crying. He could hear her, even though she wasn't in full-out hysterics. It was more of a quiet sobbing, accompanied by sniffling. All was going fine, until she plopped down onto her unicorn bean bag in the corner of her room. Harley let out a grunt as the air was briefly knocked from him, and Natalia jumped up from the spot, spinning around.

"Harley?" she said in disbelief.

Harley grunted as he pushed the bean bag off and stood up. He stood a few inches taller than her, and when he looked down he noticed that tears were pulling in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said, before breaking into sobs. Harley stood there awkwardly before patting her back.

"What are you sorry about?" he asked, even though he knew the answer.

"I'm sorry for being me!"

Harley thought that this was something quite silly to be sorry about, but he stayed silent.

"I'm sorry for only being able to find clues. I don't have super powers like Ernie, I'm not powerful like Max, I don't know as much as Brooke, and I'm not good at fighting like you!" Natalia said all in one breath. Harley let her calm down a little before replying.

"Is that the only thing bothering you?" he asked.

"I'm lonely," she continued quietly after a moment of silence. "Ernie has all his new friends, Max is with Brooke, Athena betrayed me, and you're always working with Monti. Whenever I'm alone when we're here in Avalon, I start feeling guilty. I can't help it! It just starts gnawing at me, especially when I see your arm, and now I've been having nightmares about stuff!"

"What kind of nightmares?" Harley said, surprised that she was telling him all of this, and that he hadn't been kicked out0 that was the big sign that she wasn't the same Natalia Romanov, because Harley was pretty sure that she would have kicked him out long ago if not. After all, it wasn't proper to show up so late unannounced, especially through a window. There must have been so much guilt weighing down on her heart, she must feel relieved to let it all out.

But now she was silent, and she stood up before taking a few steps away, with her arms crossed. Harley stood up too.

"What's going on, Natalia? Why have you been so… _different_ lately?" Harley reached out and put a hand on her shoulder to turn her around, but she surprisingly smacked his hand away. She kneeled down to the white carpet and hugged her knees.

"They're about you, Max, and Ernie," she whispered quietly. "Mostly you, though. They never stop, and the dreams plague my sleep every night. You guys keep dying in such terrible ways, either while trying to save me, or because of some other reason that's my fault. They haunt me for so long, but then-" Natalia choked back a sob. "Then, I have ones where you betray me. You leave me alone, or you all join in the teasing with those other girls, but the worst one is about when you saved me on the airship."

Natalia's voice was getting faster and Harley could tell that the nightmares were running through her head at that moment. "Instead of Logan pulling us up, you just smirk down at me, and everyone laughs at me and says mean things, leaning over the edge and sneering. And then, you- you start to let go, and I'm slipping but you're still smiling and then you start to say something so terrible, and finally you let go and the laughter is still in my ears, and you're face is still watching me and-"

Harley cut Natalia off as he pulled kneeled on the ground, spun her around and forced her into a hug. She gasped at first, but then just curled up in his embrace and cried. Harley was never good at comforting people, but now he held Natalia softly, rocking her back and forth, and whispering reassuring things to her. He stayed with her until she stopped.

"We'll never betray you, and it's not your fault when we get hurt," Harley said. "I save you because I want to, and would gladly die to accomplish that."

Natalia looked up at him with eyes that shone from her tears. "Really?"

He smiled warmly at her. "Really."

Natalia pulled away, and Harley reluctantly let go. She took a tissue, dabbing her eyes and wiping her nose.

"Well, that was quite undignified, wasn't it?" she said, returning back to her old self. Harley smiled.

"Very undignified," he answered standing up. He held a hand out to her, helping her up and surprising her with another hug.

"I'm always there for you," Harley whispered.

Then, he was gone, leaving the window open, dirt on the floor, and a smiling Natalia.

She was back, and she knew who she could count on.

* * *

THE END

* * *

I don't own the Grey Griffins series, blah, blah, blah, or the characters, yada, yada, yada... the whole sha-bang.

Natalia and Harley! I LOVE those two together! My first one-shot and my first Grey Griffins fanfic, so... yeah.

I was going to say something else, but now I forget...


End file.
